"Then suddenly our door opened and there was a Russian soldier, asking if there were Germans inside," she said.

Hungary fought alongside Nazi Germany during the war as a member of the Axis, but Hitler ordered a takeover on March 19, 1944, when he discovered Budapest had started secret peace talks with the Soviet Union.

Some 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished during the Holocaust, most deported to Nazi death camp Auschwitz after the German occupation began.

Around 100,000 Jews remained in Budapest when the entire city was liberated on February 13, 1945.

Hungary's commemorations of the deportations were plagued by controversy over how to properly commemorate the Holocaust.

Many groups organising commemorations refused or gave back funding from Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, accusing it of playing down the Hungarian state's complicity in organising the deportations, a charge denied by the government.